Gimmick's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[I wanna make you happy]

Why so serious?

MihaP responds:

:))

[Adrellia Village #3]

Funny

Despite its simplicity, I got quite a laugh from the stupidity of the main character and the effects of the "ice beam", I'll elaborate later.

The art/graphics: Rather simple, the people are a bunch of stickmen with faces and a dress, Cyanide-and-happiness style. While it's not exactly eye-catching, it does strangely fit the current series. The background looks good, but some objects like the amulet were nothing more than some basic shapes..

The animation: The animation was smooth, overall, but at some points of time (for example, the zooming in of the character, and the shot of Kirk, and the delay following it) was a bit too slow for my liking; other parts (like the credits) were too fast. Other parts were a bit choppy, like the moving of the protagonist to reveal the amulet; it could be forgiven, though, as the other parts more than compensated.

The music/sound/voicing: Ironside fitted in nicely, the beginning serving as an alarm and the latter part of the 13 second snippet as an anticlimax, although it was a little high-pitched. The sound effects were aptly chosen, of the ice beam crashing into Kirk, apart from others. The voice acting was nice too.

The storyline/other: Upon viewing it the first time, it seemed a little long, but on second viewing, it dawned on me that it was oh so short. Nevertheless, the light-hearted comedy accompanying it made it better, overall. The credits were rolling a bit too fast, though. I never could've guessed the soundtrack was Quincy Jones' Ironside if I hadn't read Haggard's review. (I finally saw the "13 second snippet" thing after subsequent views)

All in all, a niece, short flash that I'd view again, with an art style I'd normally not think would fit well in flashes, but it does here.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Nice music, sound effects selection
2) Smooth animation
3) Simplistic art
4) Funny

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Credits rolling too fast; points in animation slow
2) Parts of art a bit too simple

[Review Request Club]

MistyE responds:

Thank you for your review! In this episode's original run, TBH the main character wasn't intended to be stupid, but I'm still glad you got a laugh out of it!

Art/graphics: I always thought that the simple, somewhat-jerky style oddly corresponded to the plotline. The original characters were supposed to be complex animals but I settled on a simple but effective style.

Animation: Thanks!

Music: Thanks. I did my best to find a fitting soundtrack for that.

Storyline/other: Interesting that it seemed long at first. Your insight is appreciated.

I didn't know anybody paid attention to the credits, I'll make them slower next time.

[First Encounter]

Not bad...but not flash

The video's all right, and considering that it was done on a Nintendo DS, I think I should give extra stars. Should I...?

The art: Alright, the art was just random stick figures drawn, namely a professor, a stickman and something else, maybe a spray? So if it was a normal flash, then it wouldn't have been as good, seeing as it takes a lot of work -- I think -- do replicate this on a DS. But it's no excuse for poor-ish art. The explosion, the city and the professor's head were drawn relatively nicely, though.

The animation: Due to the effect (?) created in the video, I see multiple screens on the screen, each showing the same picture. Not sure what to make of that, but I guess if I focused on an individual screen then I could call it a smooth-ish animation, which is a bit blocky. I can't really say though, since this is after all, not a flash animation but a video.

The sound: I think the music fits the plot well: slightly funny (to me) and a bit fast-paced, which kinda reminds me of a Wiley Coyote theme. Good job on the selection of music. The sound effects, though, were negligible, except for the last part which really surprised me: One moment I'm listening to calming music, the next a loud scratch as the video cuts. Maybe the sound could've been made a little softer?

The storyline: So I see a stickman bringing something up, next second flying high in the sky, something happens, boom, then the professor's experimenting with a box. I can't really see any storyline here, it's as if you just shot random things to experiment with this. I can't give you any stars on that but I won't take away any, though.

All in all, not so bad since it's actually done on Pictochat, as Wearfare said (and I assume), so I've chosen to give extra stars. But an afterthought: I don't think you should upload videos on Newgrounds. NG's for flash animation. Not for videos. I think you should've stuck to Youtube for this video, but if your aim was to show what people could to with said program, then I think your aim was acheived.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Done on Pictochat (+++)
2) Nice music selection
3) Some parts drawn well

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Overall poor art
2) Blocky animation
3) Loud sound effects
4) It's a video!

[Review Request Club]

PowerRangerYELLOW responds:

What happens is the stickman bites his tounge so hard it bleeds and the resulting blood spray sends him flying.

he eventually loses blood and quickly falls to the earth where a city happens to be than the stickman explodes creating a hugh metor where the city used to be.

The professor gets excited because he has found a brand new discovery and begins tests using boxes.

near the ending he begins to activate the transmitter inside one of the boxes however the machine cannot handle the new frequency.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review.

-PowerRangerYELLOW

[==Firefight==]

Okay

I watched this animation, and I was ready for the person to move on and possibly kill some more people when it just said replay. I was literally like "That's IT?" at that point of time. That's when I saw the author comments, this was a test to practice your animation skills. Ohh.

The art: The people aren't very well drawn, but the background sure is. I like the 3D effect you gave for some parts of the house, along with other minor-ish details such as the station wagon behind the bush and the car in the garage. Overall it would've been good, but the bad character art brought the quality down.

The animation: So this is a test of your animation, so let's look at that, shall we? Okay, the first thing I notice right off the bat is that the animation's smooth and not chunky or blocky at all; good job on that. The spawning of the bullets and their "mini-explosion" against the MREs are also pulled off very well. So far, so good.

The sound: The sound effects are okay, I mean, you said that all gun sounds sound equal, so I won't bother with that, but there's a slight problem with the music: it would normally build up suspense but in this case, coupled with the animation, there's just....not enough suspense, and the music just tends to continue even when the animation's finished. Not. Good.

The storyline: Very, very short. At first I thought it was going to be a full-length movie, but then when I watched it and looked at the file size, I was rather disappointed.

All in all, okay if you're animating after a long hiatus, but otherwise not very good if you're aiming for quality, no.

~~ Summary~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Nice background art
2) Good sound effects
3) Smooth animation

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Music still continues even when flash finishes
2) Very short

[Review Request Club]

Phantox responds:

I think I spent a whole week drawing that background (not including the time it took to restart from my last save when flash crashed)

I don't know how to make the characters better, though so I just leave it the way it is.

Thanks for your review

[-The Gift Giver -]

Not bad

I couldn't get what they were saying even though the sound volume was on full blast and I used my headphones, but I pretty much got the gist at the end. I'll elaborate later.

The art: Not that bad, but rather mediocre at the same time; the "black man" doesn't look as though he's starving, but has a potato head and a banana body. The beggar has a long brown beard, his eyes are a dot surrounded by a semicircle and another dot. The semicircle is presumably some eye outline or something. The gift giver is static and is just some smoothened out circles and rectangles merged together with some brush strokes.

The animation: It's smooth and the lips move in sync with the sound. The person walking, though, is rather broken, moving in spurts rather than smoothly (for me). There is no animation showing the beggar (?!) eating the chicken, i.e just a zoom in of his face going "nom nom nom" rather than him picking up his hands and eating it; the "drop of sweat" from the gift giver (?) is not obeying the laws of gravity, i.e the motion tween should have an ease of -100 rather than 100, since 100 means it slows down when it reaches the destination. That's not right.

The storyline: For those of you who have difficulty hearing the soft voice (such as me), I'll explain: It's a person (presumably a beggar) who wants food from the gift giver, and demands food. The gift giver then gives him chicken, which then through the exploitation of the stereotype that "black people" are attracted to chicken, kills the beggar to get it, only to find out it's chicken not popcorn. Something I found original, apart from the generalization part. So far, so unique...I guess.

The sound effects: Like I said, the voice was very soft and so I couldn't make out anything except for the louder words such as "proposition" and "food". It's only good that it could be figured out from watching the whole movie, otherwise I'd have given this a much lower rating.

All in all...not bad, I guess. You could've stopped it from looping, though.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Good art (?)
2) Nice lipsync
3) Smooth animation at points
4) Original-ish storyline

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Broken animation at points
2) Very low sound
3) Short

[Review Request Club]

ManNSmkyRoom responds:

Thanks for the review, I'm still a little dumbfounded about the audio. Why is it so loud when I watch it but not for you? How can I make sure the audio on my next animation will be at a correct level?

[Achivement Madness]

Good

For 15 to 20 hours, this is not that bad a flash! I liked that this was based on achievements, and that the person actually did those kinds of things. However, I didn't get to see all of them...including killing RobotJesus? Maybe if you had more time, you'd have done it...? :P

The graphics: They're Madness sprites, although they're redrawn so it's not an exact clone but rather an adaptation. I appreciate that you did that! Also, the drawings of the explosions and "nyan cat" were nice.

The animations: They were fluid. The explosion was especially smooth, but not too smooth, just like in real life. Things like the drawing of the gun were quick, just like a person would do if he was being threatened as well! Good job on that.

The voice acting: It sounds like the person is generally a slow dimwit whose brain was compromised...I'm guessing that was the noise you couldn't remove. Although I didn't expect it, the voice acting did match that of the character -- he was so dense he failed to understand what achievements were.

The sound effects / sound: These were well chosen, and some were rather gruesome sounding, but then again this is Madness day. Some were loud, though. The gunshot effect at the click of the "replay?" button was a tad loud.

The storyline: It's a person who has to get achievements to get a reward for doing awesome stuff, and he eventually gets it through completing various tasks. Original! For one second I couldn't make out the difference between the original Newgrounds medal popup and this popup, they were almost alike!

All in all, this was a great submission, and it deserved the score of 3.91. 4/5, 8/10.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) [Nice adaptation of] Madness sprites
2) Nice choice of sound effects
3) Fitting voice acting
4) Smooth animation

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Some sound effects were a tad loud.

[Review Request Club]

Deathisawesome responds:

I was going to do all achivements on the list, but somewhat ran out of time ;)

Yeah, tried to keep from tweening, it tends to be to smooth :O

I actually slowed the voice down after recording it, just to get that feel to it, so glad you liked it :)

Maybe I should have edited some effects some, but I didn't have time for it :C Next time I will though :)

Thanks for an awesome review! :D

[Strawberry's Hour]

Great

I don't give a lot of 10s nowadays, and that's a compliment ;) I'll elaborate on the points of this movie later, but I'll tell you this: it was indeed wonderful.

The art: The art was done wonderfully, with the full emotions of StrawberryClock being displayed as he saw the face of the grim reaper (clock?); I could very much make out the different emotions he felt: Horror, joy and suspense while SBC was waiting. The grim reaper and the stork, along with the backgrounds were drawn very nicely indeed; I don't know how you managed to pull off the shading bit but it's wonderful. I'm way far from being an art expert, and I can't draw to save my life, but I thought this was great indeed.

The music: The music...hmm, let's see, the music. It fit well with the movie; it also helped supplement the emotions SBC was experiencing and built up suspense when required, and slowed down the pace when not. A very nice choice of music indeed.

The animation: The animation was fluid and smooth; it was, in my opinion, flawless, although you could improve on the dog's part -- I just saw the dog turning around and walking, with no walk animation, but rather just....floating on the topsoil. Nevertheless, overall, it was wonderfully animated.

The story: I see SBC standing on a hook, waiting, when a flashback plays; he faces the grim reaper, and tries desperately to escape from him, and near the end, he does escape from him, but there's a small hiccup -- he realizes death will always come, whether or not you escape from the grim reaper. A very nice storyline indeed, and of the first I've seen. The time is also balanced, with it being neither too short or too long. Good job.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Nice art
2) Fluid animation
3) Lovely music
4) Great storyline
5) Not too short, not too long

~~ Bad points ~~
None that I can think of.

[Review Request Club]

Merol responds:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

[Dance Dance Clockradio]

Nice

I'm just going to go ahead and say that this was great, but I'll elaborate later:

The art: It was good -- even though it was a simple picture of a radio-ish creature dancing, you managed to pull that off well. I liked the part where "clockradio" did a split -- the 3d-ish feel was represented very nicely.

The music: Ah, in a music video the music is the dominating factor above the art, above everything else, even though art and animation play a crucial role. The music was fast-paced yet relaxing at points, and it was just sweet.

The animation: Fluid, very smooth, many ways for the word great. Even though it may be nothing more than a radio dancing, it's a very impressive animation style at that, and the background animation is just plain wonderful. It helps me get in the mood, y'know? Even though it is a loop, it transitions wonderfully; I didn't even know it was a loop until now!

Life is good, man. Life is good.

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Nice art
2) Fluid animation
3) Nice music
4) Transitions beautifully
5) Simple

~~ Bad points ~~
None. There's nothing that I can say that's bad about this, except for the fact that maybe it's a loop.

Foxcato responds:

Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it.

[The ordinary]

Good

The voice acting was great, and I liked the fact that it was funny. Although the animation's not exactly smooth, it is interpretable. The art is okay, and I find it strange that it is somewhere near the style of Eddsworld, although it's nowhere near that quality, it is good.

The arm movement, however, was strange. It's almost as if he was a contortionist, the son. The fire from the jetpack was also wonky -- I don't think it's supposed to be tilted that way. Some parts didn't make sense to me, and some objects were overlapping others that contained info such as the sign (it was covered by the person)

However, I, for the most part liked it a lot. Keep up the good job!

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Nice voice acting
2) Funny
3) Somewhat nice art

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Wonky movement
2) Some parts didn't make sense to me
3) Overlapping of some clips

brynimation responds:

Yeah. I've been told by alot of people that my animation needs improvment.
But I am quite young to be animating. Also I wanted to make it near to the style of eddsworld and I know that the quality is alot worse than eddsworld.
But I am improving.

[My First Full Body Anim]

Okay, I guess

The animation was fluid, and don't misunderstand me, but I didn't like this thing very much. Why? Because parts of the person weren't drawn very well, or they weren't given much attention to. I'll start with the head.

The head was rather badly drawn, with it moving only once in a while; it's staring in one direction constantly, and suddenly, there's a jerky movement to the left. That might be due to the fact that it's restarting, but if you're aiming for a loop, it should transition smoothly from the beginning to the end, and the end frame should be the same as the start if it is to be convincing.

Then, the hands and the pockets. The hands don't look like they're in the pockets, and I've come to the conclusion that he's putting his hands in his pockets only because he's holding them in that position. If his hands were in another position, I very much doubt I'd think there were any pockets at all! The hands were stuck in the said pockets, and they didn't move at all -- they may move a little during normal human movement, and if they were in the pockets, they'd be a little too close to the camera, I mean, pockets are supposed to be near the side of the pants, right? These are absurdly near the front, and the top
part of the pocket looks a bit like the folded up hand.

Then, on to the legs! These are the main part of the animation in this case, and you pulled it off really well. I doubt I'd be able to animate this -- it does look drawn and animated really nice indeed. However, the legs become bigger than the rest of the body in some parts of the movie. I realise that the legs are becoming bigger because they're near said camera, but they're a little too big. Look at the knees of the left side of the person, and compare that with the right. They're smaller. That's not allowed, because technically the left leg is the same distance away from the camera as the right leg.

However, I doubt that I could do better than this, and I'm no animation expert, just giving my 2 cents. This, overall, does look very nice indeed! It's not bad at all for a first full-body animation!

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Fluid animation
2) Nicely drawn art
3) Not bad for a first full-body animation

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Transition from beginning to end is not smooth
2) Hands don't look like they're in the presumed pockets
3) Arms are comparatively stiff compared to the rest of the animation
4) Legs are relatively bigger than the rest of the body, regardless of perspective

GZento responds:

I fully understand your opinion, and I think its a good one, thank you for giving such great criticism! :)